Imagine that you're in a match, and you've just swept the other guy onto his ass. That's a great feeling, but should you take a brief time out to congratulate yourself? Of course not. Languidly taking your time after a sweep might work great against white and blue belts in friendly, relaxed rolling, but it'll never work against a serious opponent, especially in competition where people just … [Read more...]
Strategy
A Simple Hack to Double Your Guard Passing Percentage
Let’s do a quick mental experiment. Think about your favourite guard pass; your go-to passing technique you use when you want to pass the guard of a tough opponent. Visualise the steps one by one. Now tell me, did you a) Pass to your left and end up on your opponent’s right side, or b) Pass to your right and end up on your opponent’s left side? If you’re like 70% of people, you … [Read more...]
Fake Low, Go High; How to Use Level Change Fakes to Set Up Takedowns and Submissions
There's a universal combative principle known as 'fake east, go west.' This idea has been valid since forever. It has been used effectively in small-scale fights between individuals and also at the grand strategic level in huge wars. That's because it only always works. The idea is to distract your opponent by doing one thing over here and then hit them hard somewhere else. One … [Read more...]
How to Set Up Submissions So Your Opponent Gives You His Neck, Arm, or Leg on a Platter
A reader of my free email newsletter recently had a question about how to become better at setting up his submissions. The thing is, once you get past white belt, submissions don't just happen anymore. Chokes and joint locks need to be set up, which means taking your opponent out of alignment somehow and breaking his base, posture or structure. Once his alignment is broken, it's 100 times … [Read more...]
A Safe and Effective Open Guard Pull
If you do it wrong then pulling guard can be dangerous for both competitors; I've seen people pulling guard knock themselves out AND people pulling guard injure their training partners by pulling guard incorrectly. It's important to clarify that I'm not against pulling guard in competition. I mean, what if your opponent is much bigger than you, or is a much better at takedowns than you, or … [Read more...]
What Is Required for Your BJJ Blue Belt?
In episode 380 of The Strenuous Life Podcast I talk you through what's generally required to be a competent blue belt, including... The 8 basic positions in jiu-jitsu A 3 phase strategy for beating a bigger person The real purpose of the guard The 2 types of submissions The hierarchy of positions How to stay safe in bad positions...and what to do next. The importance of … [Read more...]
Jumping Guillotine Choke
A lot of jiu-jitsu guys struggle on their feet, especially when they're facing a superior wrestler. Fortunately there's a way to use a wrestler's own reactions against him, and that's by jumping into a guillotine choke In this technique you first fake low and threaten a double leg takedown or a low single takedown. When he does the right thing and level changes to defend against the shot … [Read more...]
Deliberate Guard Passing Practice
If you're on top in the guard during sparring you've got a very important choice to make... Are you going to Fight him tooth and nail to get to a passing position, or Concede the engagement phase and let him have his guard of choice Both are valid options, but this is a choice you should make deliberately. Let's go through this in a little more detail... Option 1: Fight to Get to a … [Read more...]
How to Pass the Guards of Very Flexible People
It's can be a real pain to pass the guard of an extremely flexible guard player. Typically these are young punks throwing hooks at you from every direction... strange and unorthodox submissions... legs that always manage to pop back into play no matter what you do. One of the best things you can do against flexible players is to stack them. Drive their feet to the floor above their head. … [Read more...]
Why Older, Slower, Stiff, and Broken Grapplers Should Use the Butterfly Guard Against Standing Opponents
If you're an older grappler playing guard against a standing opponent then you should start in the seated or butterfly guard rather than starting flat on your back. Sitting up will give you the best chance of getting your grips and setting up your preferred guard of choice. If you lie down into a recumbent guard (i.e. with your back flat on the floor) then you're essentially conceding the … [Read more...]
How to Build a Closed Guard System
Too many people end up in closed guard and try singular attacks. Armbar attack! Damn, that didn't work. Sweep attack!! Damn, that didn't work either. Take the back!!!! My opponent shut that down too... what am I doing wrong? The thing is that singular attacks (or, even worse, waiting for your opponent to make a mistake) might work at white belt level, but this sort of strategy just … [Read more...]
Lessons from Competing in 25 Matches in 8 Divisions in 1 Tournament with Jeff Shaw {Podcast and Video}
Jeff Shaw runs Bellingham BJJ and despite coming to jiu-jitsu late in life fell in love with competition and eventually competed 8 divisions in a single tournament with pretty good results. I particularly love his pre-match psych up routine which you'll learn all about in this episode! Here is the video version of our chat... 00:45 - Covid Check-in at Bellingham BJJ 13:58 - Starting … [Read more...]
Closed Guard Strategies with Jon Thomas
In episode episode 331 of The Strenuous Life Podcast BJJ black belt competitor Jon Thomas goes deep into the strategies, gameplans and training methods for the closed guard. How to Listen to the Audio-Only Version of this Podcast Episode Featuring Jon Thomas 1) I’ve released this as episode 331 on my podcast (The Strenuous Life Podcast) which you can listen to on all podcast players, … [Read more...]
An Evolutionary Biologist on the Best Strategies for BJJ, with Marcio Pie
Here's the video of my conversation with Marcio Pie which blends of two of my favorite topics: the science of biology and the science of BJJ. Marcio is a professor of zoology at UFPR and practices Jiu-Jitsu in Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil Evolutionary Theory Applied to Jiu-Jitsu, with Marcio Pie (Video) Video Timestamps 01:08 - Introduction to evolution 06:44 - Runaway selection 09:56 - … [Read more...]
One Breath, One Attack; A Heuristic for Guard Domination
There's a BJJ black belt strategy for the guard that anyone can use... This approach keeps your opponent in danger of getting swept or submitted and makes it hard for him to even think about passing your guard. It's really simple. Ready? Here it is... "One breath, one attack!" This strategy means that you continously try to improve your position, at least one time every time you … [Read more...]
What is Kuzushi in BJJ and What Can It Do For You?
Let's talk about Kuzushi in BJJ, and why it's a critical skill to develop if you want to have good guard sweeps, submissions and backclimbs. When you learn a technique from the guard like a new sweep it usually works great at first. You'll be sweeping your training partners all over the place with your shiny new toy. But then your training partners stop making whatever mistake they were … [Read more...]
Don’t Concede the Initial Grip!!
When people are playing from the guard it's WAY too common that they just let their opponents get whatever grip they want. Once they've given the other guy the grips they're now on the defensive and have to fight out of whatever passing position they end up in. That's why the first thing you should do when you end up in the guard is to gripfight like crazy. Whoever dominates the grips is … [Read more...]
Covid-Safe Jiu-Jitsu Teaching with Dan ‘TrumpetDan’ Lukeheart
In this episode of The Strenuous Life Podcast I chat with Dan "TrumpetDan" Lukeheart from Brea Jiu-Jitsu in Orange County about The steps he's taken to keep his school open in a responsible manner during the Covid-19 pandemic, How to improve your BJJ skills during a training layoffs Match strategy to win more often tournaments, And much more... Here's the video of my conversation … [Read more...]
How to Set Up the Triangle Choke from Guard
Today we'll cover the real 'secret' to using the triangle choke against higher belts from your guard - it's all about the set up! Tapping out higher belts is a different thing than tapping out beginners... There are certain techniques that serve you well against white and blue belts. But when you climb the ranks and start sparring against higher caliber opponents some of those moves stop … [Read more...]
The Ranges of Butterfly Guard
Today I want to talk about the importance of range in guard, and then the range micro-battles that occur within a specific style of guard. Let's get started... Ranges Within Guard If you're trying to become a well rounded guard player then it's important to realise that you're going to use different guards at different ranges. For example you might use a foot-on-the-hips spider guard at … [Read more...]